FaZe have secured one final chance at qualifying for the IEM Cologne 2026 Counter-Strike Major after the roster ignominiously exited DracuLan Season 6 with a 1-2 record.
The storied roster will now make its way to Belgrade to compete in HLC Belgrade Pro, a 13-team event with a $30,000 prize pool, where they will require LAN wins to prop up their faltering standings in the VRS.
The event will be FaZe’s final opportunity to qualify for the Major before the April 6 VRS cutoff for the IEM Cologne Major invites.
HLC Belgrade Pro details
Date: April 3-5
Prize pool: $30,000
Format: Round-Robin Groups, Playoffs TBD
HLC Belgrade Pro Groups
Group A:
- FaZe
- Drama Esports
- Bee
Group B:
- Illwill
- Ex-Zero Tenacity
- Deorum
Group C:
- BIG
- Apogee
- Luminous
Group D:
- Magic
- Cypbershoke
- Pivosquad
- RE’DI*
* Update: RE’DI were first placed in Group A. Following consultation with HLTV, RE’DI have been moved to Group D. The decision means that FaZe has one less group stage match at the event.
Will FaZe magic activate on time?
This wouldn’t be the first time FaZe have come back from the brink to save their Major hopes. The roster survived Stage 1 of the Budapest Major by only 0.437 seconds by preventing Red Canids from defusing on map and series point.
In terms of Major qualification, FaZe required the Last Chance Qualifier at the Paris 2023 Major to make it to the main event.
The LCQ had only been introduced at that event, due to the uneven number of EU spots for that Major, with FaZe taking down Cloud9 to be the last team to make it that time.
So, FaZe are no strangers to completing their homework at the eleventh hour, but fans won’t want to see them play more if they play as they did at DracuLan.
Their performances there were far from ‘The Great Entertainers’ that we have come to know and love. Instead, they looked limp and lost in terms of the map pool as they desperately scrambled to find solutions to their struggling form.
They will also have to do so without a permanent coach, as the org has provided no replacement since removing Filip ‘NEO’ Kubski. Dominik ‘GruBy’ Swiderski remains as the interim coach for the event.
The good news for FaZe is that the field is far weaker at HLC Belgrade Pro, but there will be no room for error in FaZe’s last chance.
Will FaZe make the IEM Cologne 2026 Major? Discuss that on our community Discord server!
For more news, see ESL’s shift to eight-team playoffs and more.
Darragh is an Esports Journalist for Insider Gaming specialising in Counter-Strike. He loves to explore how esports teams work, or why they very often do not.
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